Broken GPS
Willy knew that time was of the essence and that the men needed bringing in right away, so he asked the pair for their location so that he could send a rescue team their way. Pulling out the GPS device, Alvarenga realized that they were in even more trouble than he had first thought.
The GPS device wasn’t waterproof, and the sea spray and waves from the storm had completely killed it. They had no way of working out where they were in the huge ocean, and so Willy had no way of knowing where to send the rescue team.